Third dive of the day and time for my second mandatory dive in my AOW certification, The Navigation dive. swam out in shallow water, exercised fin kicks and counting/timing them. Than again on a rope, back and forth. Finally I swam a square, to end up at the starting point. 23 kicks first leg, turn 90 degrees, 23 kicks, turn 90 degrees, 23 kicks, turn 90 degrees, 12 kicks and ending up on the starting point. 12? Well, it is not that easy as it looks, but Patrick think I did alright, since I hit the starting point. I know, third turn was not 90 degrees. But it was fun, and I will practice some more underwater navigation. It was really fun. However, since I concentrated on my navigation, my SAC rate was well, let me put it like this…high! But nevertheless I can now present myself as an Advanced Open Diver.

Second dive of the day, and it was time to dive on Nitrox (32%). At Divewise, Patrick instructed me how to analyse the gas mixture, and now it was time to see how the added % of oxygen would impact my bottom time. We went out, almost identical as the previous dive, swam out mid water and dropped down, almost right on top of the tugboat Rozi. Great wreck, but I liked the P29 better. My camera freaked out and decided that no, I am not going to focus. So pictures from this dive came out somewhat fuzzy. At 30 metres I compared my computer with Patrick’s, who was diving on normal 21% breathing gas. Result of Nitrox 32% = 12 min more time on wreck. Well, still doesn’t help if you breathe heavily. Did a controlled ascent and played around a bit on the safety stop, at suzies pool. Ended the dive with 41 BAR.

After a good night sleep I returned to Divewise, full of anticipation. Today I was doing my deep speciality, which is one of two compulsory dives in AOW. We did it on the P29, just off the pier in Cirkewwa. Dropped down about ten metres, then for a swim out in the blue water, with nothing more than your depth gauge and compass as guide. No natural reference points since the swim was just about centre of the water column. Again, a new experience for me (and a good one). Crucial to have good buoyancy. Vaguely you could see the aft of P29, and me and Patrick (instructor) landed slowly on the aft deck of the P29, at 28 metres. We (mostly I) compared my mares computer against his Suunto, to show, that I had it under control and also went through a couple of neoprene patch with different colours. My first impressions of my first deep dive (actually some 10 metres more than my previous “record”), was that it was much harder to breathe, move and the pressure was more imminent than on 18 metres (well, doh!). Did a quick tour of the P29, before my bottom time came to an end, well….ok, no point of hiding it. Before I hit 100 BAR which was the return signal. So if I hadn’t breathe like a extremely-overweighted-hamburger-resturant-visting maniac, I could have stayed down some more minutes.

Third dive of the day, and it had become dark. So a perfect time to do my night dive speciality, again nothing new, since I have done two night dives before. Nice dive, didn’t bring my camera, since it was a night dive. But we went down to the Madonna (statue, placed there by a local diving club) at around 18 metres. Also did some cave swim through, which was my first. Not a very challenging one, more like a 5 metre swim through. But never the less, one more experience. It was very late when I got back to the apartment, wife and kids was all a sleep. So, three dives and 2h 25 minutes below surface today. Thumbs up for Divewise! Great organisation and they do have control over who’s diving and with whom.

Second dive of the day, goal was to do the wreck speciality. Basically just to swim around the wreck and locate potential hazards and do some very light penetration/swim through. Not really any issues since I have done some light penetration before (dive #19). Very easy dive, took the boat from St:Julians to the grand harbour of Valetta. HMS Maori is located just off the coastline and have some historic war history to tell. Again, a very pleasant dive, with good SAC rate (well, for me at least).

My first dive in the Mediterranean and on Malta. Completely different than Sweden (well doh!). Nothing fancy, just a dive to get used to the surroundings. One of six course dives on my way to be an Advanced Open Water diver. However, coming from the CMAS-system, I had already gotten through most of the theoretical parts. Loved the water temp, it doesn’t get this warm in Sweden, even in the summer. At least not 15 metres below surface. So, a good start on the pratical parts of my AOW-certificate with Divewise.

Second dive for the day. After 1 hr 13 minutes of surfce interval, we went beneath the surface again. Started the dive with 93 BAR remaining, after informing my buddy about my airsupply and my intention to make the safety stop no less than 50 BAR. after that it was just a matter of surfacing if needed to. It was a very relaxing dive and I sat a new all time low SAC rate of 15.3 litres/min! Saw my first eel on this dive. Picture is a frame from a video sequence, hence the bad quality.

So, here I go again. Dropped my knife on my last dive (more like kicked it out of its holder without noticing it), and also my dry suit gloves leaks through the actual glove, due to a stupid mistake from my side (well, if you must know, I moved a barbecue grill on last dive with my gloves on). So, new knife and new gloves on order. I am travelling to Malta soon and that is a good reason (as any) to invest in some new equipment. So I purchased a Mares 6mm Second Skin wetsuit from Simply Scuba in UK. It felt like a nice suit and after trying it on (land), size 5 was spot on. Lets see how it performs submerged. It’s sort af a semi-dry (yeah, right… you are partially dry?). Well, it has some seals on both wrists and ankles, and the zipper is supposedly as dry as it get on a wet suit…

A nice evening dive, first time with my new torch. Worked flawlessly and was actually a bit too bright on it’s highest setting. Did see a nudie snail and a hermit crab. Very rough sea, with waves measuring roughly 1 meter, so it was a bit hard getting up after the dive. Fairly tired after the dive and the climb back up the staircase.